Document DE 103 45 338 B4, shows a conveying system conveying the nested containers in cycles, a gripping device removing a row of containers to be filled from the nest and transferring them to a weighing station, the gripping device transferring the weighed containers after weighing to a filling station, said row then being filled. The gripping device, after filling, transfers said row a second time to the same weighing station, the row of filled containers being weighed again, and the net contents thereof being determined as a result, and the filled row being re-positioned again into the nest and being left out when the nest is filled in order to avoid being filled twice.
In particular in the case of pharmaceutical products, it is relevant to know the precise fill level of the containers as an incorrectly filled container, either an under-filled or an over-filled dosing of a product contained in the container, can have consequences. This can result, on the one hand, in serious harm to health and, on the other hand, in particular in the event of under-dosing, can result in the effectiveness of the product being considerably restricted. In the case of cosmetic products, a high level of accuracy of the fill level of the container is also significant in order to sell the correct quantity of the expensive cosmetic products.
Consequently, controlling and, where applicable, re-adjusting the fill level or the correct operation of a filling device is of particular interest.
In this connection, weighing part of the containers before and after the filling operation and determining the net contents of the individual containers therefrom is known.
It is particularly preferred, in this connection, when said control is able to be carried out during the on-going filling process. In this case, in the prior art said measuring frequently results in delays in the filling operation as the determining of the net contents of the containers requires a certain time.
According to the teaching of document DE 103 45 338 B4, the filling operation has to be interrupted at least in part in order to remove the row of containers, to weigh them, to feed them to the filling station and to fill them, to weigh them again and to reposition them in the nest.
Furthermore, it is possible according to the above-named teaching to weigh only a certain part of the nested containers.
In addition, the filling operation of the checked containers differs from the filling operation of the remaining containers. Consequently, no real checking of the filling operation as carried out in normal operation is possible. Faulty alignment of the filling station with a row of a nest to be filled results in the worst case in a product being poured out next to said row. Such a fault is not detectable using the above-named method.
DE 10 2004 035 061 A1 discloses a device for the dosed filling of vessels situated in groups in receiving means of a carrier plate and said device comprises a weighing device for checking the dosing results of a dosing device, the weighing device comprising a lifting mechanism for lifting at least one of the vessels out of a seat of the carrier plate, the weighing device comprising a lifting mechanism such that the individual vessels only have to be lifted out of the nest in order to be weighed.
In this connection, the same weighing device is used before and after the filling of the individual vessels such that a nest has to be within the reach of the weighing device before the filling and after the filling. In addition, the conveying device has to be stopped during the weighing of the containers and the weighing device has to be at a standstill for a short time. Control weighing is consequently always accompanied by a delay in the filling station.
Document EP 2 570 350 A1 discloses a method for filling and closing pharmaceutical objects which are arranged in parallel rows in nests. The objects, in this case, are removed from the nests in a removal station at an entry to a conveying device and are moved into the conveying device, by means of the conveying device the objects are fed along a straight portion of the conveying path one after another to a first weighing station, a filling station and a second weighing station.
In this connection, the objects are not filled in the nests, but also have to be removed for filling, which results in longer processing times.
Document DE 10 2012 208 060 A1 proposes a filling machine for filling containers with a liquid. The filling machine includes: a handling device, a weighing device, a first filling device and a second filling device, the first filling device being set up to fill containers arranged on the weighing device. In addition, the second filling device is set up to fill containers arranged in a nest. The included handling device is set up, in this case, to move individual containers and/or rows of containers out of the nest to the weighing device. In addition, the handling device can remove the containers out of the weighing device and reposition them in the nest.
In this connection, the containers are filled during the weighing process, which results in complicated control of the filling system and long processing times.
DE 10 2014 214 693 A1 discloses a device for weighing a receptacle, having at least one weighing device for weighing at least one receptacle, at least one receptacle receiving means for conveying the receptacle relative to the weighing device, at least one drive surface and at least one mover which is coupleable on the drive surface being provided, the mover being arranged so as to be displaceable and/or rotatable on the drive surface in at least two degrees of freedom and the receptacle receiving means being arranged on the mover.
In this connection, a mover is provided for conveying the receptacles, as a result of which the filling system is complicated in design and control and is cost-intensive.
It is an object of the present application to provide an improved device and an improved method for filling nested containers, both of which, in particular, enable in-process control of the fill level of the containers.